Sights and sounds from an Obama speech watch party

“To see old white men in red ties saying, ‘I pass on a legacy to a 46-year-old black man,’ it’s unbelievable to me,” said Maxine Mimms, an 80-year-old black woman. “He is talking about being president of the United States. It just blows me away.”

Sen. John McCain stole the spotlight with his VP selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. But it will take more than a fresh face to make some Washingtonians forget how Sen. Barack Obama is making history before their eyes.

P-I photographer Mike Kane went to the south Seattle home of former state Rep. Dawn Mason to document the reactions of those gathered there to Obama’s stirring acceptance speech. This is what he heard, and what he saw: